The Archived Archives.

Today I remembered this blog while telling someone about the wedding crashing story in Bombay back in 2005. I have been unable to access this, as Google took over and it was a bit of a challenge to find my old account info to transfer. (I forgot my password) Having recently been much more focused and dedicated to my latest writing project, "A Hyderabadass," I have decided to resurrect this tale of my early 20's, when I first started my lonely travels. For the latest travel stories of my 4 month trip to India, go here...

Illegal immigrants

Tonight I encountered my first illegal immigrant in California. He snuck in from England, lived here for near 15 years before getting a green card, and is surprisingly a white Anglo Saxon. Very interesting night, starting off with meeting some friends at the Spaceship Galaxy. There was an exhibit of T-shirts made by local graphic artists, a bar, and one of the most entertaining small venue bands I have ever seen. If you can picture a stereotypical scene in this city, tonight would have been it.

After I smuggled in my affordable beverage and started chatting people up, a fellow from a party recognized me and my friend upstairs in this venue. A native Californian, who grew up an illegal immigrant from England in this city since he was 5, he immediately shared a shot of whiskey with my friend and, once initial rapport was established. Just like everyone in this city, he had his own story, and it turned out to be a very interesting night, as we ended up kicking it with his friends in the tenderloin, talking politics until 4:30 am. Turns out, he does some of the best graffiti art I have seen first hand, as he has taken a childhood pastime and sculpted it into an art form he can profit from. As I establish future businesses, I think he might be the guy I turn to to help design a logo.

On a side note, I have never heard anything as impressive live, as this 6 minute medley of every popular song in hip hop, 80s hits, and any other song that brought back distinct college memories put together with utter genius. This band was phenomenal, and made the experience in the city tonight it. I love this city...

stay clear of north of 24th and mission

These were words of wisdom given to me at the 3300 bar tonight. My roommate and I decided to get familiar with our new neighborhood and check out the local bars. I am clearly the more Spanish-looking of the two of us, but Ariel has mastered the Spanish language, which proved to be of some value as we began our journey. After initially breaking plans with MIT girls going to the Financial District for an 8pm Happy Hour (due to delayed timing on our end), we strolled down the Mission, stopping in every bar on the way, until we got to 23rd street (we live on Randall).

The first place we went no English was spoken, which meant I remained mute. The bartender gave us a very large lime with our beer that clearly couldn’t have been squeezed or put into our cans. I was very confused about what to do with the fruit, so I wrapped it in a napkin, hoping not to insult our hosts. She proceeded to attempt to seduce me by bending over the bar and promoting an opening between her shirt and her chest, which led to an awkward 20 second stare-down from the regulars and prompted us to move to a new bar. Just as I was beginning to feel less threatened by a beating from local drinkers, we entered a bar that required a pat down from the bouncer. Why everyone else that entered this bar was left untouched remains a mystery to me.

I attempted to speak a bit of Spanish at this place, but received more disturbing looks of aggression from some very tough looking men, and so decided "less was more" and kept my mouth shut at the place called Malibu. I did enjoy the live band and the salsa music being played enough that I will certainly return someday, with a deserving girl who will let me step on her toes on the dance floor.

We then made our way to this lame bar passed 24th street. The bartender was incredibly rude and spoke far too proper English for what I was used tonight. She decided to check our ID's after ignoring us for 10 minutes. I proudly displayed my Michigan Identification, and ordered a water on the rocks. And then I left. Forget that attitude. I was gauging her response to the water request, and decided that my money would be best spent elsewhere.

2 bars later, I ended up at 3300 place, where I was advised not to go north of 24th street. Zoe, a very intellectual bar tender took a great liking to us, gave us martini glasses and free beers for the road, nicknaming us the FNG's (f*&^*$# new guys). Had a crazy conversation with Tom, a bartender at BAR at 23rd and mission, about a family who was forced off-road into the snow in the mountains of Oregon. The Father, after 9 days, went out to look for help, and then 3 hours later a helicopter rescued his wife and 2 daughters. He had burned his tires to keep his family warm, layered clothes and left a trail of clothes to mark where he went, making it miles from the car. Unfortunately, he did not survive the cold, and was found frozen by the rescue team. I found out from Tom and Dawn at the 3300 bar that this man had been my neighbor in my new apartment on Randall Street. I had no clue how close these people were to me. This really hit home hard, and captured my thoughts on the tonight. It was a mixture of culture shocks and eye opening stories, and I am thankful for the experience. Too many days go by with my eyes being neglectful of real life.

I enjoy both the north and south of 24th street, and my lack of red clothing will no longer be an issue, as I plan on buying a red track suit in the near future to wear around my neighborhood, mafia style. I plan on ordering less water at bars, too, but only from servers that aren’t bloody rude.

I Left My Heart In San Francisco

Its been 4 months since the last update, and not much has happened. I now have a college degree, a good paying job, and pay my taxes to the Terminator himself, as I am a Californian resident. Ive spent years dreaming about moving to California, but waking up and seeing the ocean every day has become routine these past 3 weeks. My office is right on the Bay, with an excellent view of the city from the south side, and my house is no less than an hour and a half train ride on BART public transportation system.

I am living with a single father and his son, temporarily until I can find a place in the city. It is a very unique set up, and I feel like Uncle Jesse from Full House at times, but has proved to be an addition to the good decisions I have made since graduating college. I am certain this roommate and I would have been long time college buddies if we went to school together, and have never had such a great living situation as I do now, besides the commute. I certainly miss my friends and family back home, but I am adjusting to the lifestyle out here, meeting interesting people and being less reserved in my effort to get to know them on a personal level. I have like 15 stories I would like to insert in here, but will hold off for the time being, and update in the weeks to come.

A preview to my recount of the past few weeks, in a few sentences; Meet girl, go to Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, Almost get mugged coming home from Oakland, Wild night in the city, Wild weekend in Santa Cruz at the beach, Troubles with the BART, the asshole in me is exposed, entertaining conversations with my roomate, my take on digital download technology and the future of the film industry(which i will be very involved with the next few months) crazy stories of fraud/robbery/and infidelty back home which Ive heard about, and others....

Cheers

Mediocrity

My biggest fear is a life limited to mediocrity. Everyday I see successful people, hear their stories and picture myself in their situation. This attitude which I have had in years past I now realize is a drawback to my own success. Every success story is affected by so many variables outside ones control, it is nearly impossible to emulate. To think otherwise, is just another "get rich scheme" that will end in disappointment. I am not saying that there is a different plan for everyone, which is predetermined, however we are limited in the choices we make. With that in mind, as I try to avoid settling for anything in my life, while being risk adverse at the same time, I realize that my success will come from smart moves that only I can decide. This frightens me, because I am realizing that the advice which I have followed for years from people I hold at a high level of respect, might be useless in my situation. My situation (from now till I am old and gray) is going to be determined by so many factors outside of my control, that advice I get today from an intelligent person might be useless 5 years from now when the unexpected changes arise. Am I gonna blame my advisor then for a missed opportunity? Clearly not. I am just going to be a mediocre, ordinary soul with a pessimistic perspective of the world. A pawn that gets sacrificed to protect the noble.

I don't understand why the thought of being a pawn scares me so much. I have met thousands of these types, people with good hearts and a high quality of life. I have met succesful people who end up sacrificing their own lives for one reason or another. My eyes have told my heart so many times that money is useless, but yet my mind thinks otherwise. Maybe this is the reason my heart no longer helps my mind write music. Disappointment is a lonely road that I find is leading me to my biggest fear. The more disappointments I have had, whether it be in people who were once close to me, my shortcomings, or this world, the lower my expectations are. To me there is a strong correlation between expectations and the degree of disappointment. With that in mind, I cannot understand why I am so scared of mediocrity. Deciding that I would try to avoid disappointment, one would think that I would lower expectations of myself, or in other words accept mediocrity and the positive qualities that come with it from my experience with other people. But doing this would be kicking myself in my own nuts, which is physically impossible.

Therefore, after all this rubbish, I have made a few conclusions. First, In order to avoid my fear, I need to be less disappointed when expectations are not met. This involves sometimes ignoring the opinions of other people, even those of who I have tried to impress.

A shout out to my indian brothers

Since the last post, I have started interviewing for a full time job, grown a beard (somehow got called back for a second interview regardless) got back in touch with an old friend of mine, who I haven't talked to in quite some time, and have had concern from a professor about my overall lack of sleep, and trying to make up for some of it in her consumer behavior class. Tonight is a big Indian bash at Wayside for this kid CJ's birthday. I used to have a pet peeve of Indian's changing their names to sound more American, but it no longer bothers me, since the other day when an Indian girl found out I was Indian, and wanted to know what my Indian name was, not believing that in fact Jason was a name given to a Indian boy. I look forward to the day when I wont see foreigners in this country try to Americanize themselves, losing their unique cultural aspects, just to win over a few white friends. This one Indian guy, a little older than me cracked my shit up yesterday, when I read about how he posed an auction on EBAY, having people bid on trying to convert him out of being an atheist into a christian. The winning evangelical spent half a grand to save this young Desi's soul. It later turned out that the Christian wanted the atheist Indian to attend 15 church services, and critique them. I think i might post something similar on EBAY, to make a quick buck, but i might have to change my name to a more Indian sounding name to succeed, such as Ja-dhabi.

A Consumed Consumer

Its 12:01 AM, and I'm at coffee works, attempting to study for this consumers behavior exam. Ive come to the realization, while reading this nonsense about getting in the minds of consumers that in the course of my 4 years in college I've bought into something I never thought I would. I am a consumed consumer. I'm on course to get a "real job" in August, to set myself up to be at a position in 5 years which society defines as successful, an corporate MBA who is a provider, buying the quarter million dollar house, saving for retirement, paying ridiculous amounts or taxes,gradually losing the health care/dental insurance year by year, and possibly, dare I say getting married. 4 years ago, I was a musician trying to grow sideburns like the rest of my band mates, an aspiring film maker struggling seeking inspiration to someday write a masterpiece screenplay, fearless of the law, anti-establishment, and trying to create something that has yet to be dreamt.

A mentor told me that people choose 2 paths in life, to either be a provider, working to provide for a family, or an artist, willing to survive on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the hope to someday be satisfy their passions, even if its short-lived. I have not accepted this as truth as of yet, but as Ive grown older, and more conditioned to disappointment, I can see where this mentor was coming from.

I recently found a tape recording aged 7 years, the first recording my former band attempted, on a little boombox in my former best friends basement, and i was taken aback, while listening to covers of Rage Against the Machine "Bulls on Parade" amongst others. Now I'm playing Paul Simon covers on an acoustic guitar.

I'm not unhappy with the direction in life I have taken. In the past year, Ive come to the realization that family is the most important thing in life. My grandmother sold me on this, when I was in India and asked her about her proudest accomplishment in her 75 years. She told me she measures the success in her life by her children, and her grandchildren.

I usually wouldn't give her response much thought otherwise, however she made a solid point, in saying that when someone first meets you, they don't ask you how much money you have in your bank account, but instead how many children you have. If I can have 10 children, and pass on a legacy to a generation like she has, I will have considered my life a success. Maybe that is why I have begun to choose this path as a provider, since I did hear that having children these days was expensive. I guess if I have a son that becomes the next Tarrintino, or Bob Dylan, then my life will have meant something. Who knows though, maybe I'll become unconsumed for a couple years and do something great, or even better, achieve success as both a provider and an artist. For now, I will get back to studying consumer behavior.

somebody gonna get a hurtin real bad

Today is Muslim festival day of Eid, when they slice the throats of goats outside, in sacrifice. It is a sight to see, and something that would never take place in the US outside, in let’s say, the parking lot of Jefferson Commons. The Islamic people here also have Addan, which is a prayer offering made throughout the day on a loud speaker. It is something that always catches me off guard here, but something I get used to eventually during my stay. I really appreciate how passionate people here are about their religion. Of course, it can always be a starting point for conflict, but people here seem to respect each others worship practices, at least at the present time.

This city is full of different religions and you can see visual representation of all of them, whether is a crucifix, sardojee (guys with turbans) or traditional Islamic dress, with the women covered and the men wearing the white robe and hat, which I'm not sure what they are called. I wish there was more tolerance for other religions in the US, even though were supposed to have separation between church and state. People in general are just closed minded about faith I think, and a lot of misconceptions are held by the ignorant.

Last night was my cousins wedding, and it was one wild night full of boos, dancing, fighting, and more drinking. I would like to describe my movement on the dance floor, similar to Vince Vaughn in "The Wedding Crashers" and I suspect a few ladies in attendance would agree. My first time "jiving" and swing dancing, and I think I've got it down to a science.

Unfortunately, some guys took the movie too seriously, and decided to try there luck gate crashing and making moves on the younger girls at the reception. One of the girls happened to be my 15 year old cousin and ended in a bloody fight between my uncles, and these idiots. I heard stories about how tough my uncles were in their youth, and how they were over protective of their 6 younger sisters, but last night I saw this first hand, and the guys that messed with their daughters will spend a few weeks contemplating their mistake while their wounds heal from getting punched, kicked, and smacked. My uncle from Australia, who is probably the hot head of the 4 had this guy by the throat when I got there to help, and was saying "why did you touch my daughter" and smacking him in the face over and over. My uncle Ozzie, who’s about 5 ft 3, but as touch as nails gave some guy a pounding, and I had to pull him off because his daughter begged me to, out of fear that he would kill the guy. It was extremely intense, and I've never seen anything like it.

I had mixed feelings about the fight. I was proud that my uncles stood up for their daughters like they did, and I would hope to do the same if put in that position someday, but I felt bad for the married couple to have such a thing happen on their wedding day, after so much preparation. The night ended on a good note however, with the custom festival songs played, more traditional Goan dancing and a few whiskeys with my uncles to close out the bar. . It was good to see most of my D'Mello family at the wedding toowe had a blast during our time together yesterday as well.

Tonight is the 3rd and final celebration for the wedding, and will be a final party, with our family and Jassir, the groom’s family. (The first night was just our family, the second was the wedding) I am expected to entertain everyone with a few songs on the guitar, and have selected the song Mr. Jones as my encore.

"Someboy gonna get a hurtin real bad" is from the India comedian Russell Peters stand up act on comedy central. I highly recommend seeing this guy, he is hilarious.

Namaste

It’s my 4th morning watching the sunrise in Bombay, India, and I have to admit, this city has beaten me to it consistently. I’m not certain if my unusually early wake in this city is because of the jet lag, from being 12 hours ahead of the US, or from my excitement for what each day has to bring out here. Unlike the people on the street, I'm fortunate not to have routine to stick to, but on the other hand, I’m not the one trying to get by in a once exploited third world country soon becoming one of the top global nations of commerce.

Even at 7 am you hear the traffic starting to develop, and car horns honking and motorcycle engines purring. There aren’t any defined traffic rules here, and a lot of the cars don’t have side mirrors, since they will often pack a 2 lane road with 5 vehicles wide, scratching the sides of cars and breaking of mirrors. Drivers depend on sounds of horns to let them know if they are getting passed. Crossing the road in traffic is also an experience, as you just walk and hope that the car will stop like it has every time before. If you don’t, then you will be standing for quite along time. oh, and the cars don't usually have brake lights or anything like that either, because the taxi drivers think things like that will use more of their fuel in the cars.

These people will find each and every way to make a buck in this city, and are quite successful at it. Even the street venders, selling pirated DVD’s and Rolex’s are incredibly street smart, watching and observing each of the thousands of people that walk by every few minutes, and approaching the ones most likely to buy their ripped of, inferior products. Once contact is made, it goes straight to bargaining, which I find ridiculously hilarious. So much theatrics and emotions go into this part of the interaction, yelling and walking away, coming back, throwing arms in the air, it’s really peculiar to watch. And the amount bargained for, could be converted into a mere US$.50 cents. It’s just how things are done over here; even my ailing 75 year old grandma will do this to the venders that come to sell her stuff in her flat. She screams at them, threatens to get up and whack them, even though she can hardly stand, all for a few extra shrimps for the same price. You gotta be tough to survive in this city.

At the very micro level of my experience so far here, I am touched by the humbleness and sincerity of the people I have been with over here. They are generous beyond belief with the few possessions they have. (This is ironic considering the bargaining that they do otherwise) They are willing to accommodate up to 20 people, in these little 1 bedroom apartments. I have been honored to sleep on the floor in these peoples homes; they treat their guests like royalty with what they have to offer. My Aunt made crabs the other day for dinner, and I was having a tough time eating them, because of the shells, and my younger cousin cleaned all her crabs from the shells and gave it to me upon seeing me struggle. They are very affectionate people. We all walked this same cousin to her school, which is an all girl’s catholic school where they have to wear uniforms and wear their hair in pigtails. Even though I did everything possible to embarrass her in front of her school friends, in which I would have run away red in the face at her age, she was so proud to have me there.

To take a bath in these homes like my grandmother's who I call Nana, you have to boil a pot of hot water, put it in a bucket, fill up the rest with cold water from the tap, and use a mug to wash yourselves in a tiny bathroom with no bath or shower curtain. Each person gets a limited amount of water, and must be very conservative in using it. When you go to the "chemist" (which is like a convenient store) and order a coke, a little boy will follow you around until you finish the drink, to collect the bottle and bring it back to the store to get the deposit for it. When you eat out in a restaurant, or buy clothes in a store, there are 5 people serving you during your visit.

The wedding is in only a few days, and today is the "Rose" which is a pre-wedding tradition for both sides of the family. We poor coconut milk and break eggs on the bride and maid of honor, and sing and dance all night to festive songs here. I am learning how to jive and swing dance, so I won’t look like an idiot at the wedding, which unfortunately has happened a few times at parties here so far I fear. Even when you amongst family here, in a small living room, these people will get up, put there favorite songs on, and start dancing, jiving, singing and enjoying life. It’s a totally different experience than I’m used to, and am damn glad I’ve been exposed to it. Its now time for breakfast, since the bread man has just arrived. Still much more to talk about.

Wine

Mild mannered people are often over looked, however its a quality I find very appealing and important in those I choose to share the company with. With my frequent nights spent at the bar this semester, which Ironically have been inspired by my non drinking friend I have noticed and payed attention to how others as well as myself conduct themselves. Being over the top is obnoxious, obvious of seeking attention, and deserving of a dirty look. I appreciate this new friendship I've made with Abdallah, he has given me a much needed perspective on the Arab world, and on my own upbringing.

Randomly an old friend of mine called me, after getting my number from a mutual friend. This guy and I used to be close friends, since kinder garden, and have had crazy times in the past. Tonight, we played some games of pool, talked about the hang ups we have had and our future goals and aspirations, and just about everything else that was on our fractionally impaired minds. Watched some movies I made in high school, and by getting in contact with his old friend, who is in my opinion the smartest kid in my graduating class who is still to realize his potential, (mild mannered) I have had a part of my life reborn, and a new drive set in motion.

Life is full of uncertainties, however I believe that certain things happen for definite reasons, and though I didn't understand the quantum mechanics and super string theory in their entirety that was discussed tonight, I do understand the value of ones heart and soul, and that I will look back in 20 years and understand why the things in my life have happened the way they are.

Iraqi journalism

While flipping channels during the commercial break for one of my favorite comedy shows "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" I stopped on Fox News on report about Americans paying Iraqi Press to print positive news about improvement in their current situation. Donald Rumsfield is relieved that Iraqi's are getting truthful news, verses the propoganda they were getting before....hmmm....
"America...Fuck yea." - Team America

"You look like a guy I did some time with a year ago"

As I was consuming, yet another cup of shitty coffee this morning, to keep my edge at the office,(making tiger faces in the mirror at 7 am just wasn't having success this morning) I had the opportunity to meet some of the guys from the plant. This is an an unusual interaction for the work I do, as I spend about 80% of my time in my office in the corporate section of the building and the other 20% in conference rooms, however I learned today from my conversation with these hard working, blue collar guys that I have been missing out.

The first thing said to me by Bob, an man in his 40's with a grey pony tail, a beard, and a a couple mean looking tattoos was "Hey, you look like a guy I did some time with a year ago, you ever been to county." I responded "umm.. not that remember." Obviously jokes from both ends.

There was nothing fake about the conversation with these guys, not that conversation in the office is not real, but its different. I felt like I was talking to my uncles when I talked to these workers, and learned some new things about the company, from the engineering/manufacturing end that is relevant to some international marketing issues we may face as we continue to go global.

I have concluded that the value of the president, executives and other business types of a company are very important as they are sort of the face of its success, in terms of profits and stock price, however men like the 2 guys I drank coffee with this morning are clearly the backbone, and companies who value their American workers, like the one I work for and also specifically Kalamazoo's infamous Stryker, will continue to have excellent growth in their earnings.

And then there is GM, but Ill let Michael Moore speak on that issue, as far as I'm concerned, that company is a lost cause, and it is unfortunate that through their stupidity of lack of continuous environmental scanning (before producing substandard cars that people aren't driving anymore), thousands of more Americans will be canned, Delphi is going under, and pension holders that used to work for GM are going to get screwed. There was a headline in the New York Times talking about how the fall of GM will destroy the middle class. I don't really know much about that, though Ive heard that GM is the reason we have a middle class, because of the initial benefits and rewards they offered their employees in past years. Are they going to go from one extreme to another? Delphi, who was part of GM in 1999, re-hired this girl I'm friends with, to do some marketing work for them. Of course they are not paying her for it, unlike the $12 an hour she got last summer for much less intensive work. Is this going to be the trend for managing human resources with American auto companies in the US? I just hope GM isn't going to follow this behavior, and expect everyone, especially guys like who I had coffee with this morning, to work for free, or close to it, or not work at all.

Holy Geez

In my marketing courses I have recently spent a lot of time discussing blog sites, and just realized I attempted to start my own a while back, While living abroad. Picking up where I left off...

Its the week after Thanksgiving...Finally got a semi-vacation, the first since my travels in Europe. This semester has been extremely busy, with school, my job (RPAprocess.com) leading the 3 student Organizations I have become involved with, and trying to organize my life otherwise. No complaints though, I'm finding my place at WMU, getting ready to graduate in a semester or 2, and things at my job are taking off. Lately Ive noticed that I might be "losing my edge" with all this settling down and routine... This is totally unacceptable. After the madness I was fortunate to experience in London, I feel like I'm getting old in Kalamazoo.

I recently read a book, The Rum Diary, by the then 22year old Hunter S Thompson, that came highly recommended by one of my new roommates, Jay. While reading the book, I couldn't help but recall the adventures I had while doing my own travels, and wish that I would have written more things down. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened in my street fight in Barcelona however.

I have lost touch with a lot of that which is going on in the world right now. I guess I'm not paying enough close attention to NPR. Its been a nasty year for natural disasters and other horrific events, and Ive had some close calls, with the Tsunami while I was visiting India, the London Bombings a few weeks after I left, which happened at the Tube station I took took to work every morning, at the time I went to work every morning, The Hurricanes, the tragic earthquake on the border of India/Pakistan. I recently made good friends with a Lebanese fellow,who has given me a new perspective on the other side of the world. I hope things work out with this internship in India next summer, I need to spend some time out with my family out there, Ive simply lost touch with most of them...In the meantime, Gotta muscle through this next week of finals.

-J

Leaving London

In 3 days, My stay in London will come to an abrupt end, and I will begin my travels around Italy Switzerland and Germany, which I have decided to take a loan and go through with, even though I know I cant afford it. Leaving London is much harder than I ever would have expected, I have really grown used to living here, developed a routine with work school and the nightlife. I am going to never see most of the people I have spent the last 3 months with ever again, which is a hard concept to swallow, because I have connected with people here in some cases on a much more personal level than friends I have had for years back in the US. The one thing I wont miss is the drama that I was thrown into out here, I look forward to my old, boring life, it will be refreshing. Exam today, presentatation Wednesday, Train ride through franceinto Italy Thursday. Heartbroken right now though.

When in Rome

If my weekend could have been any more unpredictable, I just wouldn't know what to do with myself. Here is a summary of the last few days (starting from the end of the trip)

-Missed my flight home...I arrived at the Rome Ciampino airport 35 min before my flight was scheduled to take off, because it was 5 am, and I couldn't find a bus to take me there, and had no money for a taxi. Ryanair (airlines) would not let me check in, even though they hadn't even started boarding the plane, the lady even starting mocking me when we heard the plane take off, after she made me buy a new ticket. Real Dodgy

-Drank wine with some kids from San Fransisco on the famous Spanish Steps, until 3 in the morning. A group of drunk Danish girls came and hit on me, trying to convince me they were a few years older than they really were. One of them claimed to be known in her country as "Princess Sophia" yeah, and I'm one of the 40 thieves. Saw a Lamborghini smart car, tried to pick it up, its a funny picture.

-Met some backpackers from Seattle in a pub, who turn out to be the infamous backpackers that everyone in my school in London has heard about, since they met these girls and ended up staying in their closet for a couple weeks. Real small world. Also met a crazy old guy who was fascinated that Kalamazoo was in fact a legit city, and not just part of a title from some song. Yes there really is a Kalamazoo.

-Spent 2 days in Rome alone, Saw all the famous sites, took the open bus/boat tour, walked through the ruins, Colosseum, Pantheon, Vatican, saw the pope at his hospital,(poor guy) Played some blues for hundreds of Italians dining/site seeing at Navona Piazza with this crazy musician who played his guitar upside down, made friends with an artist who drew me a portrait of me at Navona Piazza, saw some hilarious street performers. Ate Gellato and pizza a few times

-My travel companion flips out because I talked to this Irish girl for 10 minutes, leaves Rome and goes to Florence, steals my 8 Euro bottle of wine, and flies back to London a night early.

-Arrive in Rome with no place to stay, because the Hotel my travel companion was supposed to book canceled the free room I had been promised, because stupid girl failed to answer her phone all week.

Unfortunate, I might have to cancel the backpacking trip, since my funds have run short, but i will definitely return to Italy in the appropriate time, the people are beautiful, warm and friendly, and the food is incredible.

Dublin this Thursday, and a ridiculous amount of work besides that.

American Invasion

Only London could inspire me to go out to a Irish pub, at 12:30, on Wednesday. Saw a decent Beatles cover band, though they were also Americans, and had no solid front man. They got the room dancing though, and British people dance funny, so it was amusing.

All the spring break crowd has finally left our apartment, one of the guys ended up being fraternity brothers with some really good friends of mine back home. small world. My cousin just got proposed to, in a semi-arranged setting. I'm happy for her, she will be moving to Denver next year. The new trend with arranged marriages, from what I've been hearing from people, is more of a formal introduction by the parents, and then letting the couple work out between themselves if they will tie the knot, or not. If i was put in that scenario, I hope my parents would set me up with a girl like Ashwaira Rai, because my hidden talent as a Bollywood actor/singer could be discovered.

God damnit, I love the band MUSE. When I saw their singer/vocalist at the Curioso festival last summer, my dying inner child woke up when he put my rock n roll days to shame. He is a wild man on guitar, and even switches to piano in some of his intense solos. I can flat out say, I am jealous of this musician, why am i not doing what he is doing? The only songs coming out of guitar are poor Spanish flamenco renditions. Regardless, this band is doing some great things for rock n roll, and any bad review they have gotten has been written by some guy that failed to get laid the night before he insulted them. I hate critics. Rome in a few hours, I'm learning some Italian phrases on this website I found, that also has mp3s so you can practice pronunciation.

Arrivederco.

The Underground

After a 10 hour day working for the mouse, I caught the tube home, which I had to wait for 20 minutes since it was passed 8 pm. While standing in the underground that time, the coldness of this city finally got the better of me. I don't understand how these people here can carry on and leave conversation as a last resort. (Usually the only words spoken are excuse me) Its a rather awkward scene for me to be in, and I'm an introvert.

On the escalator going up to the streets, you have to stand on the right side so that people who are in a hurry can pass you. On Oxford Street, there is a proposal to create an express lane, for walkers. I saw a grown man push a child out of the way walking up the moving escalator last week, not it a comical way as Will Ferrell does in the movie Old School, after shooting himself with a tranquilizer.,no this bloke I saw was just flat out mean. Unless you have an Ipod in this city, this city can bring you down sometimes. Way to go, Steve.

After a long, tiresome day of work, and homework, the band that I used to despise, which happens to be British as well, Oasis, has actually brought some enjoyment to my day. I guess these things grow on you in time.

I still love London, it would just be nice to see the sun once and a while is all. Gonna check out the East end tomorow with my friend Davis, I guess its where the thugs in London party at. Finally, my kind of crowd. word.

Welcome

It has occurred to me, during my various travels this winter that I should begin publishing my thoughts, and given a free outlet, I will attempt to devout a minimal amount of time to updating this blog.

Currently, I am getting ready for my trip to Rome this weekend, which may be not quite what I expected after US soldiers killed an Italian secret service agent and wounded the kidnapped journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, who was recently released by the Iraqi insurgents.

So i guess this weekend, I will be Canadian again... (with Italian ancestry of course if I meet a Bella donna italiana) This war is getting out of hand, and I fear that other conflicts the US has identified will be dealt with in similar fashion. The current situations with N Korea, Syria, and Iran all scare me tremendously. Most recently China laying a law over Taiwan, which will allow military action if the island pursues its Independence is another global nightmare. (since China has raised its arms budget almost 13 percent, just in time for Europe to lift its arms embargo.)
If there is one thing I learned on this trip, it is that you carry your country on your shoulders, no matter where you go, and also no matter what ideals you hold.

On a brighter note, my first marketing promotion has gone live for Walt Disney's Toontown "The Incredible's Fishing Tournament."


-J